This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Sunday, 19 September 2010

The Crucifixion of Jesus (a.s.) in Islam & Christianity

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ
ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is an interesting article regarding the
crucifixion of ‘Isa (a.s.) from the
Christian and Muslim point of view: The
Crucifixion in Islam & Christianity. The Arabic
original of this article, by Fr. Georges Massouh, professor of Islamic Studies
atBalamandUniversity, appeared in an issue of an-Nahar.It
can be foundhere. The
following is extracted from that article.

Christianity is based on faith in the resurrection of
Christ from the dead after his crucifixion.Someone who denies the Cross or the
Resurrection removes himself from Christianity.For
this reason, the Cross is considered to be the sign and symbol of Christianity.In
contrast, Islam, on the basis of the Qur’an denies the crucifixion of Christ
and adopts an opinion that had spread among certain Christian sects that Christ
was not crucified but that it seemed to the Jews that they crucified him.These
two beliefs, the Christian and the Islamic, will not be change and debate among
the two sides is useless for changing perspectives or for bringing them closer
together.

The Gospel according to Barnabas will not change the
certitude of faithful Christians in Christ’s crucifixion, especially given the
consensus of experts that this so-called Gospel according to Barnabas was
written some time during the 14thand
16thcenturies, that is
centuries after the spread of Islam, and that the book has no connection to the
apocryphal books which appeared in the first two centuries of Christianity.Thus,
it seems bizarre that some Muslims rely on this counterfeit gospel in order to
support their belief that Christ was not crucified, when the history of
Christian apocryphal literature has many accounts resembling the Qur’anic
account.It is also known that the Gospel according to Barnabas
contradicts certain basic Islamic beliefs, since it says that “the Prophet
Muhammad is the awaited Christ,” which contradicts the Islamic account of the
Prophet of Islam (s.a.w.).

In the first centuries of Christianity, certain Gnostic
sects appeared which believed that the world of matter and the body is a
corrupt world, and so they denied the belief that Christ (a.s.) had a
real body, only having “the resemblance of a body.”The
most important of these sects was that of the Docetists, or Resemblancists who
were refuted by Ignatius ofAntioch
who affirmed the reality of the Incarnation when he said, “If Christ only had
an apparent body, then he only apparently suffered and so we only apparently
received redemption.”

Likewise, Irenaeus ofLyons
combated the heresy of Basilides who said that Christ was not crucified, but
rather Simon of Cyrene who bore the Cross of Christ on the path toGolgothawas
the one who was crucified.Basilides said, “Simon was the one who
was crucified, unknowingly and erroneously, after his form was changed to
resemble that of Jesus, while Jesus’ form was changed to that of Simon and he
mocked the leaders.”In the apocryphal book called the Acts
of John, which was written in the end of the 2ndcentury, the statement, “I am not the one
who was hung upon the cross” is attributed to Jesus (a.s.).

There is also the sect of Cerinthians who followed
Cerinthus and believed in the existence of two persons in Jesus Christ (a.s.):
the first person whose name is Jesus who was born of Joseph and Mary like all
humans and suffered and died and rose from the dead, while the second person
whose name is Christ is a spiritual being who cannot suffer and so “Christ” was
“freed” of Jesus (a.s.) at the time of the crucifixion and ascended into
heaven: “So, Jesus alone was crucified
while Christ was saved from torment.”

In contrast, the Qur’an only Treats the question of
Christ’s (a.s.) crucifixion in a single verse where it affirms that the
Jews did not kill Christ (a.s.) but rather that this was Made to seem to
happen to them.

That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus,
the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”; - but they killed him not, nor
crucified him, but so it was Made to appear to them and those who differ
therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to
follow, for of a surety they killed him not. ― (Surah an-Nisa’:157)

In the same verse, it Talks about his being raised to
heaven.The Qur’an does not provide information or details about this
event, leaving the door open to two readings: either the Jews crucified another
person upon whom the image of Jesus (a.s.) had been cast or that the
entire event of the crucifixion was made to seem to them to have happened.For
this reason, there is a large number of differing Islamic accounts about what
happened to Christ (a.s.) in the period of time between his being Saved
from the cross and his ascension to heaven and his second coming.

As for the person who took the place of Christ (a.s.)
on the Cross, his name differs according to the account. Imam ar-Razi
(r.a.) in his commentary provided
five accounts about this person who was made to look like Christ for them. In the first account, “They took a man and
killed him and crucified him and dressed him like Christ (a.s.) for the
people”. Another said a certain “Titayus”,
one of the companions of Judas, was crucified n his stead. Yet another said they assigned a man to guard
Jesus (a.s.) and God Cast his resemblance upon that guard, and they
killed him while he said, “I am not Jesus”. Another account went, when the Jews planned
to take him, Jesus (a.s.) had ten of his companions with him.He
said to them, “Who wishes to purchase heaven by having my resemblance Cast upon
him?”

One of them said, “I
do.”So,
God Cast Jesus’ (a.s.) image upon him and he was brought out and killed.

And finally, a man from among the companions of Jesus was
a hypocrite, so God “Cast Jesus’ (a.s.) resemblance upon him and he was
killed and crucified.”

Imam ar-Razi (r.a.)
admitted that “these accounts are contradictory and confused, and God Knows
best the truth of the matter.”

Despite the heresies and sects which denied the
crucifixion of Christ (a.s.), Christianity continued to hold fast to the
Cross as a basic belief for Salvation.And despite the proliferation of
Islamic tales about the end of Christ’s (a.s.) life on earth, the
Islamic belief remains deeply rooted that Christ (a.s.) was not
crucified.However, all this does not prevent Christians and Muslims from
working together for the good of humanity.